Standard 10 Reflection and Personal Growth

The competent teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates how

choices and actions affect students, parents, and other professionals in the

learning community and actively seeks opportunities to grow professionally.

1. Fully state the standard in bold text. Then write a paragraph explaining your

knowledge and understanding of that standard—put the standard into your own

words.

I believe this standard revolves around a teacher’s willingness to accept

constructive criticism and adopt their teaching methods in order to become a more

effective teacher. Although these suggestions for improvement may come from

supervisors or fellow teachers, I think the most important reflection comes from

within. After a lesson, it is important for a teacher to go back through and make notes

regarding what things went well, which approaches need some improvement, and how

they plan to adjust the lesson in the future in order to make it more successful. I think

this also applies to the classroom management within the lesson or even throughout

“in-between” times. If a student does not respond to a polite request to halt all side

conversation then a reevaluation needs to occur in order to determine a more effective

approach. Finally, when dealing with parents and other professionals constant

evaluation and reevaluation is absolutely necessary. If a parent doesn’t respond to e-

mail in the manner you originally desired, change your approach to a phone call or a

note home in order find success. The same strategies apply when dealing with

administration or other education professionals. If the teacher’s current relationship is

not at the desired level then they must reevaluate their actions and approaches in order

to start to work towards a more productive and satisfactory relationship. Overall, I

think this standard aims to help teachers recognize that they are engaging in a

continual learning process and there is always room for improvement.

2. Explain how the artifact you chose demonstrates your understanding and

application of the standard.

The artifact I chose, my observation forms from my first and second formal

observations, demonstrate my understanding and application of the standard as they

show how I reflected upon the suggestions made by my cooperating teaching and

used them to improve my performance in the subsequent lesson. My first observation

form contained a lot of “Suggestions for Improvement”. While my first reaction was a

feeling of discouragement, I quickly adopted the mindset that I am involved in a

learning process and I must take every suggestion constructively. Before developing

the content of my next lesson, I sat down and read over my first observation form. I

tried thinking about the ways that I could improve my methods in order to better

benefit the students. This involved creating different ways to keep all students

actively involved, how to implement some classroom management techniques, and to

really consider the learning speed and style of all of my students. After much thought

and consideration, I took a different approach while creating my next. The result was

absolutely satisfying. My cooperating teacher even made it a point to mention on the

observation form, “Wow! You took all the suggestions from the last lesson and

applied them to this lesson! I see a good teacher emerging!”. While I realize that this

is only one isolated incident, it made me realize how truly important it is to learn from

your experiences and to continue to make self-improvements for the benefit of the

entire learning community.

3A If the artifact has been used in your practice, reflect on how your teaching will

change in the future to meet the standard.

As a pre-service teacher, my teaching methods and approaches will continue

to change in the future as I gain more experience as well as additional feedback from

my cooperating teachers and supervisors. I intend on going through the same process

after every lesson I teach. It is so important that I reflect on the pros and cons of each

lesson in order to continue to grow professionally and to improve my instruction. I

will also use my reflection time to gather additional information from more

experienced teachers in order to gain some insight on the most effective methods as

well as to seek their general advice. Additionally, I intend to implement the reflecting

and improving process throughout my entire career as new methods are constantly

being introduced. Therefore, I would make every accommodation possible to reflect

those changes in my teaching strategies.

4. Conclude with a paragraph discussing how you are more prepared to Teach and

Learn in a Diverse Society as a result of satisfactorily meeting the standard.

Successfully meeting this standard prepares me as an educator to teach and

learn in a diverse society because constant reflection based not only on teaching

methods but also attitudes and behaviors is essential when dealing with students of all

different backgrounds. From my early field experience, I can already see how varying

approaches or even the way in which I present myself affects students differently

depending on their background and learning style. I feel as though self-reflections and

reminder notes should be administered on a daily basis in order to draw attention to

the different needs of all of my students. An element of research could also be added

within the self-reflection in order to investigate the backgrounds or other

circumstances of the students. This investigation will help develop changes that will

allow them to learn in a more comfortable environment. Engaging in reflection in

order to achieve personal growth is absolutely essential in a diverse environment.

Every student deserves to be treated as an individual and the educator needs to be

prepared to take every measure necessary in order to achieve that goal.